Online Extra: Mother on trial in killing of her newborn twins

GALLATIN — Both sides in the murder trial of a Tennessee woman accused of smothering her newborn twins agreed Tuesday that the defendant made no preparations for the babies' births.

GALLATIN — Both sides in the murder trial of a Tennessee woman accused of smothering her newborn twins agreed Tuesday that the defendant made no preparations for the babies’ births.

Attorneys described how 26-year-old Lindsey Lowe, of Hendersonville, sought no prenatal care and bought no diapers or supplies before giving birth to the boys at the home she shared with her parents on Monday, Sept. 12, 2011.

Defense attorney John Pellegrin said Lowe was the bridesmaid in a wedding the weekend before the birth where she was dancing, laughing and posing for pictures. The night before the births, one of her sorority sisters stayed at her house, even sleeping in Lowe’s bed. And yet no one knew she was pregnant.

Prosecutors suggested that Lowe’s lack of preparations showed she never intended for the babies to live.

They pointed out that Lowe had been engaged to her college sweetheart in 2011, but had gotten pregnant when she had an affair with another man.

“Miss Lowe made no preparation for the births of these children because no one was going to interfere with her life,” Assistant District Attorney General Ron Blanton said during opening statements.

But defense attorneys argued that the case was not so simple.

“Lindsey Lowe was pregnant, but she refused to accept it, her mind refused to accept it,” Pellegrin said. He argued that Lowe didn’t realize what was happening when she started to give birth in the bathroom.

“She thinks her internal organs are coming out,” he told the jury.

Lowe told police she smothered the babies after they were born. Blanton recalled her statement to police as, “I just put my hand down there over their mouth — the baby’s mouth — until it stopped crying.”

But Pellegrin suggested that Lowe didn’t clearly recall what had happened that night, and the police detective who interviewed Lowe planted the idea that she had smothered them.